Wisconsin Freedom of Information Council issues awards

Among 7 awards (“Opees”), the Daily Register won their award because they tenaciously pursued some records which had been denied because of attorney-client privilege. The records were connected to what was, at the time, an ongoing investigation. The Register won, but they had to chase the case through the courts. That costs money, not to manage a lot of management time and headaches.

In economics, a positive externality is when one group or individual does something that benefits another group or individual–who did nothing to gain those benefits.

That happens in the world of open records all the time. The groups–usually newspapers–that spend time and treasure on these open records lawsuits are pretty much the only reason that regular citizens aren’t completely stonewalled when they ask for records.